Mind the Gap: Tackling the gender pay gap in your workplace

The discussion around the gender pay gap is growing and its impact can be seen across the globe. Last week, American actress Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay for Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter newsletter sharing her reaction to the Sony hack and learning that she had earned less than her male co-stars on American Hustle.

Commonly we associate gender pay gaps with the concentration of women in lower paid occupations but the comments of Jennifer Lawrence, a multi-million dollar film-star, highlight that pay disparity is a far wider issue. Jennifer herself suggests that it was her unwillingness to negotiate that was to blame; a factor that itself can have its roots in gender inequality.

Lawrence said: “I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled’ At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realised every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled’.”

The article also reveals the personal impact of discovering that pay disparities exist and highlights the negative impact that this can have on morale and perception of value.